The New York Times reports on advertising’s worst nightmare/huge opportunity: user-created advertising. Here’s a piece:

User-generated content, best known for fueling the popularity of Web sites like YouTube and MySpace, is rapidly taking hold in advertising. Dozens of entries were submitted for the Current contest, and Mr. Ibele’s commercial will run for one to two months on the network. In the coming weeks, more user-generated ads for companies like L’Oréal and Toyota will follow the Sony commercial.

“User-generated content is sort of the word of the day,” said Anne Zehren, the president of sales and marketing for Current TV, which was started last August. “And I think smart marketers will start harnessing that.”

Early SMITH readers will recall we put out a call for readers to create ads for their favorite brands and products. We received a few responses (some we’re still trying to make sense of) and our offer still stands right here.